


Porcelain Soul

by introverted_kitten



Series: Porcelain Pieces [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Identity Reveal Aftermath, Jazz being a great sister, Maddie and Jack think Phantom overshadowed Danny, Misunderstanding, Part Two, Separate Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom, They’re separated because they’ve been split in half, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26452123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/introverted_kitten/pseuds/introverted_kitten
Summary: This was worse than he’d thought. He thought that’d be easy to fix, pick up the pieces of his porcelain heart and eventually come to terms with what happened.But it was so, so much more. Torn in half, and now his porcelain soul was split, literally.
Series: Porcelain Pieces [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918243
Comments: 14
Kudos: 93





	1. Soul Split, Literally.

**Author's Note:**

> There is some mild swearing in this chapter, two f bombs but that’s all.
> 
> I really recommend you read the first part since this can’t really be read separately without not having a clue about what’s going on

Clammy hands scrabbled at papery air as they reached for nothingness. Ectoplasm seeped and spurted onto the floor, with every _drip_.

Why was he here? He didn’t know. His chest burrowed in agony, blistering in pain as green liquid flowed down. Weakly, he brought a hand up to stunt the pain, but to no avail, it continued.

There was nothing. Within him, his core screeched and pulsed only one thing.

_Betrayal_.

They had done this hadn’t they? The two figures - one large and square dressed in orange, the other thinner and willowy, dressed in blue. When he was with them, he felt safe. Was supposed to feel safe. Even if they hunted him, and perhaps he didn’t comprehend why he felt this way, they’d keep him safe, because that was their responsibility.

So why did his core scream the opposite now?

He needed to be _away_ \- _away_ from these feelings. Be somewhere he was safe.

And that was not here. Not in his home.

His home was _not safe no more._

With that discernment, his porcelain soul broke once more.

* * *

Jack and Maddie finally had him. After all this time, they finally had the infamous Phantom captured, locked away in a ghost containment device down in the lab. Every single time Phantom claimed to be a hero, he was overshadowing their son. Perhaps now their son could begin the road to recovery.. it would be long and tedious, but they’d get there eventually.

However, Maddie couldn’t help but think something was wrong. Her son was awfully adamant that he wasn’t overshadowed. But he was. He just didn’t understand. He was her little baby boy, and he probably wouldn’t ever put the ghost that overshadowed him at fault.

But then why had he said the ghost was himself? Was it to defend Phantom?

Had that ghost manipulated him so badly it caused Danny to go against his own parents? The woman sighed. They had fixed Danny, he’d get better, their son.

So why did it feel like they’d made everything worse?

* * *

_**You don’t know who to trust.** _

_**Your porcelain heart is shattered.** _

* * *

Maddie paused when she heard Phantom whine painfully within the containment device. His hands splayed outwards, grabbing at nothing as he attempted to stand, collapsing almost instantly. Shaky hands tended to the deep welts on his chest, and the ghost flinched.

Good, he was awake. Jack was currently still in the house, pacing up the stairs, not knowing wether to go comfort their son or not. Danny’s muffled cries filled the house, still even after the separation. Desperately, Maddie wanted to soothe her son, coddle and murmur words that he’d be okay. But she didn’t know, and nor did Jack.

“Phantom. You’re awake.” Curtly, she picked up a notepad and pen, observing as the ghost looked up.

“It hurts.” Barely audible, his voice was hoarse as he stared up, leafy green eyes piercing to hers. Full of, betrayal? Why would that be? This ghost didn’t care about her or her family, and what would he have to feel betrayed about - the fact that they’d stopped him from possessing Danny?

“Ghosts don’t feel pain.” She swallowed numbly, taking in the wounds on his chest. They did look incredibly deep, and excruciating. Behind her, the scientist knew there was a roll of bandages and gauze, which would definitely be able to treat his wounds.

“Well I do.” Phantom pressed, taking a few deep breaths before standing up weakly, letting his figure lean on the wall of the containment unit. “And I trusted you.”

A hand brushed his limp hair out of his face, before returning to put pressure on his chest. Honestly.. he didn’t think he could describe what he was thinking right now, or well what half of him was thinking right now. Faintly, he recalled what had happened.

He was there, and then there was a pain, deep within his core, splitting and sizzling apart, before he felt himself split, like tearing paper. Chest pounding and aching, there was the electricity, and his mind wracked with flashbacks from the portal accident. But the worst was the trust.

He’d trusted _Jack_ and _Maddie_ \- the words Mom and Dad felt bitter on his tongue; told them his most intimate secret, one that he was so terrified of how they’d react to. And then they’d accepted him. He almost vomited there and then.

Oh the acceptance, so so fake. But he’d thought it was real. And for a full fifty-five seconds, there’d been relief in his life. Relief that his parents would accept him.

But then they tore him in half and threw him in a containment device, his other half upstairs acrying mess, Maddie staring him down with angry eyes telling him that his pain was fake. And they could do whatever now. He was weak, powerless practically.

_One of their best experiments yet_. He thought bitterly. _Their own son. But I’m not that am I? I’m just the evil ghost that possessed their son._

* * *

_**It was all fake** _

_**The trust, everything.** _

_**She won’t believe you, no matter what you say.** _

_**Because she believes her boy has a soul of porcelain** _

_**Her boy is not a ghost** _

_**You can’t be both** _

_**Only one, to her.  
** _

* * *

“I need to ask you questions.” His mother prodded forward, tapping the pen on her notepad with questions, before looking back at him with narrowed eyes. “No experiments until we figure out what to do with you.”

“Like what?” Phantom stood, wavering hesitantly as his green eyes blinked back at her. A twinge if fear ran through him as he thought. Just an interview, he, he could manage that. Experiments? No thanks.

“Just, questions.” Pausing, Maddie scanned the paper before looking back up at him. “How did you and Danny merge together?”

Oh great. They, still believed he overshadowed his human half, didn’t they? Right now, he was just a stranger to them. More he thought about it, his own parents were strangers, too. They could do anything, at anytime to him. She could be lying to him. Like they did before.

Yeah, that’s it. She’s not just going to interview him. There’s always something else. Wind him in, convince him he was loved and that everything was going to be okay, and then when the fish took the bait they’d lash out.

No, he couldn’t risk that a second time.

“Why should I trust you aren’t going to experiment on me?” He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve already ripped me in half, and you’re ghost hunters. It’s never just an interview you want.”

“Would you prefer we experiment on you?” Coldly she responded. There it was.

Evidence that he couldn’t trust his mother no longer. They’d never accept him.

* * *

_**Your trust wavers** _

_**She won’t accept your and she never will.** _

_**She doesn’t believe you, so why should you?** _

_**You think, you can’t risk this a second time.** _

_**She thinks her boy has a soul of porcelain** _

_**Who needs to be protected from everything** _

_**But you know that is not you** _

_**That porcelain boy died long ago.** _

* * *

Phantom sighed, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously as he looked back up to Maddie. He wasn’t going to get anywhere like this. Looking down, he chewed his lip, deep in thought. “How do you think this happened?”

He wasn’t confessing to overshadowing, because he hadn’t been, but he bet his half-life that his mother saw that as a sign of confirmation that he’d overshadowed Fenton. Also by the furious look that came across her features for a minute, but settled as she looked back down at the paper and scribbled some notes.

“You were the first ghost through the portal, me and Jack theorised that after Danny went in the portal, ectoplasm consumed him, at the same time you came through the portal. Both of you merged together within the portal. But not a normal overshadowing since the extra ectoplasm bonded both your forms together, yet you could still switch between both. That’s why the Mutilator was built. If we made the same concentration of electricity and ectoplasm that was in the portal accident, we could defuse the both of you.”

Wait. _What?!_

“You made an invention that has the same amount of electricity and ectoplasm in the portal accident-“

“-yes. It was the only way.”

Eyes glowering in knifed anger, Phantom snarled, fists clenched against his side. How dare they. How _fucking_ dare they.

“The same amount of ectoplasm and electricity?! _You remade the portal accident!?”_

Oh Infinite Realms, he couldn’t, he couldn’t-

Before, he’d been fine, reassured as he could be, but he knew his human half would be fine to merge back with him, after all the Mutilator worked just like the Ghost Catcher, or so he’d thought.But no, they went and remade the fucking portal accident, the day he got his powers, one of the most traumatic times in his fourteen year old life, that his parents had knowledge of.

And they’d compacted it in a pitchfork and stabbed him with it.

Maybe they didn’t have the knowledge how of bad the portal accident was, but they knew he was effected, his parents had seen that. Both the scientists knew that their son was effected by the accident, not in a good way.

What disturbed him most he thought, was not that they made him relive such agony as a ghost - they were ghost hunters after all. But the fact that they’d built an invention, with the intention of making him relive the accident to be able to defuse him, except knowing that the accident did affect him, and maybe not how, but still complying with the idea of doing this to their _fully human son._

“Do you know how traumatic that was? Surely you knew the affect it had on Danny, and you still went through with it?!” He was gobsmacked.

“There was truly no other way, I wish we could’ve done it differently, but the possession was different that others, so we had to remake the strongest voltage of electricity and ectoplasm in the portal, and it worked.”

“And how does it merge back together?”

“Why would you want to know that?” The ghost winced as his mother’s tone rose in anger by the second. “Wait. You want to know that so you can merge with Danny again. That’s it, isn’t it?” Shattering noise filled the air as Maddie flung her notepad onto the desk behind her, creating a loud _snap_ on the desk.

Any remorse she had for this ghost and his injuries was gone. All he wanted to know was how he could merge back with Danny, back with him, to control him again. Well, two could play at this game.

“No, why would you think that?” His voice was brazen, with an air of hesitation to it.

Well, there wasn’t anything from stopping her, was there?

“Because you want to merge back with my son as soon as possible- why else would you be asking how the Mutilator works?”

Danny’s hands pressed to the glass container as he peered as his mother, a shiver of fear dashing through his body. She wasn’t wrong. Yes, he did want to merge back with his human half, but Mom- no _Maddie_ , was coming to the completely wrong conclusion.

“Look, you seriously don’t understand this. I’ve told you the truth, Danny has told you the truth.. now can you please just tell me how to merge back?” His voice was desperate now, he just wanted to get out of here, back to normal, forget this happened.

But he wouldn’t forget this for a long time, he knew.

“You see, _ghost_ , me and Jack design inventions to destroy ghosts. We don’t invent them to help ghosts-“ she paused, leaning onto the lab desk, facing right towards Phantom. “Which is why with the Mutilator, it _separates_ , it doesn’t _merge_. With the amount of electricity and ectoplasm, we were able to reverse the portal accident, and reverse the fusion. And with the reversal, you'll not be able to merge with my son ever again.”

_**No.** _

_**You are both.. you’re not separate.** _

_**They didn’t see that.** _

_**And now you are half, with no way of being fixed** _

**_Your porcelain heart is shattered_ **

_**And your porcelain soul is quite literally,** _

_**split.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second part to the Porcelain Pieces series! This is a multi chapter fic, unlike the first one that was just a one-shot.


	2. Gone.. and Taking Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few mild curses in this chapter, just as a warning!

_**“Never able to merge with my son ever again.”** _

* * *

He’d heard. He heard those words.

Beyond his cries, his Dad’s pacing footsteps outside the door, he could hear them. Downstairs.

It couldn’t be true could it? Never able to merge back with his ghost half. Danny was dubious over his mom’s words. They loved him with all their being.. he was their little precious baby boy. Coddled with heartfelt attention, he was their porcelain son.

Delicate, cautious.

But, he hadn’t been that recently, had he? No. Sniffles came to a stop as he flopped onto his knees on his bed, staring aimlessly around the room, as if he was seeking to find something.

_My parent’s acceptance._ His mind twinged sarcastically, and the teenager clenched a fist at that. False expectations, that’s what it all had been. His parents, they’d built an image of a son that was a precious and fragile thing, that would break if he saw the outside world. And when that image began to break, well, they didn’t like it. But they kept piling and piling, making stupid amendments to still believe that their son was that same boy in the mist of their deceits.

He didn’t know what to think. How could he, with only half a brain? Half a soul?

Oh God. Phantom wasn’t coming back. He, he was lost.

Downstairs in the lab, Maddie interrogating him. The halfa didn’t want to think how petrified his ghost form must’ve been, to be ripped out and tossed into a containment device, being called evil. And yet, Danny could.

Earlier, a few hours before, he remembered the incident.. how could he forget? Each time the raven haired boy at least tried to settle or sleep amongst his tears, the images would flash within him. Remembering as if a switched had been flicked.

One second, his mother enclasping him, her voice nurturing and affectionate, sweet as honeysuckle, with the motherly tenderness that took him reminiscing of his childhood, when they used to share conversations of rockets, go to the observatory to view the newest constellation Danny had learned about in his space encyclopaedia.

His father, with perhaps a little more hesitance, but still the same fatherly gaze that would holler out “Danny-Boy” affectionately, or show such joviality whenever his son was interested in a new ghost invention. He remembered working alongside his dad, perhaps a few months before the accident, eagerly watching as the hexagonal structure came to life, the ghost portal.

And the next.

Like a light switch being flicked.. no, that was too light a metaphor to describe even a fraction of what happened... like.. like a dagger had been repeatedly skewered through his heart, and the mocking faces of his parents there, picking up the metaphorical parts of his shattered heart, and obliterating the remnants with whatever ghost weapons.

Because technically.. that kind of did happen.

He’d been a little confused at first, his mother’s voice smooth and hissing, coldly. He’d never heard her like that before. And then his dad had come towards him, the Fenton Mutilator in hand, and that was great! Well for ghost side him it would be good, because holding the Fenton Mutilator away surely meant that his dad was rejecting the idea of hunting ghosts?

No. But instead he’d got the weapon and turned it on him.

_Truly a twist of the tale, if I’d say myself. Who can exactly come out and say, my own dad impaled me with a pitchfork because he thought I was possessed by myself?!_

Although there was something strange about the pain.. familiar almost. It did kind of remind him of, the portal accident. Now he had overheard a bit of the conversation downstairs- it was hard not to by his Mom’s cold and shrill voice echoing throughout the empty house. All he’d really heard was that his parents had thought he was possessed, used the Fenton Mutilator, and that Phantom wouldn’t merge with him ever again.

Although that was really weird. Didn’t the pitchfork just work like the ghost catcher? So surely he and Phantom could just get, rezapped or something and merge back together. Unless, the Mutilator worked differently to the Ghost Catcher.. instead of splitting a ghosts soul in half..

It spilt a ghost separately.

But the pain, the pain. It almost made him cry out, but he couldn’t.

If he screamed then, he’d be reminded of the portal accident, with all the green and the electricity and the scorching of every bit of his body, the fire.. _no_.. **no**. As if his bones were being inflamed and twisted, the sputter of sparks on his skin, the constant humming that had been with him ever since the accident, the warm familiarity of his core tucked inside his chest, perhaps occasionally freezing over.

Almost with affection and in the midst of trying to steady himself, Danny patted his chest with satisfaction, knowing his core would leave a faint flutter in response. For the first one in hours, a small smile ridged his face.

Then dropped. His hand pressed against his chest, blue eyes freezing over.

His core.. wasn’t there.

* * *

_**You don’t believe it.. how could you?** _

_**Your core is gone.** _

_**H-how?** _

_**Does that mean you’re in danger?** _

**_If your core is gone.. just how long will your porcelain soul last?_ **

* * *

  
“Danny?”

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of his father, which was strangely downcast from its usual grandeur. The teenager.. he just couldn’t.

Grabbing at the hem of his shirt, Danny fidgeted with the cotton beneath his fist - using it like a stress reliever as anger seeped into his body and back out. Perhaps he could just ignore it, ignore that his dad was outside the door and maybe he’d go away. Back to his oblivious self.

He didn’t see why this would be any different.

His core was gone.. his chest feeling strangely hollow, and Danny had to suppress a wave of panic that was slowly conquering him. _Gone_ \- as if it had just never existed.

As if- _as if he was never half ghost._

What had happened? Why was it gone? What would happen to him?

Without a core, Danny was pretty sure he couldn’t function properly. His core kept his ghost half stable, and the ectoplasm levels within his body stable, so that it wouldn’t accidentally seep into his human form, and cause a bout load of problems. It had only happened to him once, part of his core had been blasted and struggled to recover. Within that period of time, without a core to keep ectoplasm levels stable, all sorts of problems had spiked up.

..and he didn’t have a core now.

No core to keep the ectoplasm levels stable. Nothing to stop the toxic ectoplasm to consume his body, consume whatever living cells he did have left, and poison him from the inside out. Ectoplasm was toxic to humans, and to his human half too. His core made him immune to that toxicity in his system, but without a core, well.. there was nothing to stop it.

“Leave me alone!” The raven haired boy shouted back, desperately trying to hide the scared vulnerability in his voice. He didn’t want his parents to get the wrong impression, again.

“No, Danny.” His dad said, entering the bedroom and closing the door behind him. Jack loitered at the door, eyebrows furrowed and the Fenton Mutilator laid forlornly in his hands. Eyes directed at the weapon, Jack looked back up at his son. “We need to talk.”

“Why should we?” The man dressed in fluorescent orange watched as his son propped himself up on weak knees, facing him with stormy blue eyes. “I wasn’t overshadowed, I told you repeatedly. And you never listened to me.”

“You know, we only wanted what was good for you.” Jack pouted, eyes rifting to the side as his son watched him like a hawk. “That ghost had plagued you Danny, don’t you know? Phantom, he was overshadowing you- that, we don’t know why. But I promise you’re safe now. Nothing can hurt you.”

“You think I’m scared?” Danny asked. His father blinked. “I’m not. You- you and Mom, you always make these stupid assumptions, you think I’m weak and delicate, but I’m not! Ever since the accident, I’ve been able to care of myself very well! Mom and you, maybe if you took one minute of your time to stop obsessing over ghosts, you’d see the truth.”

“Danny, I-“

“No! You don’t get a say! The one time you interfered, you make everything a million times worse than what it was!” Danny cried, shoving his hands into his father’s arm, wanting his dad out.

Unexpectedly, the oblivious man followed the gesture, toddling to the door and pausing to peer back. “Okay. I’ll leave you alone for a little while Danno. I think you need some time to recover.”

“Recover? Look, Dad - I doubt you know about half ghost biology, either because you haven’t been around them or just downright refuse to believe they exist. You know what a core is?”

“Of course son! A core is the centre of a ghosts being. Like a heart, but a ghostly version.”

Danny sighed wearily. At least his dad was somewhat listening to what he was trying to say to him, and telling him that his precious Danny-Boy was in danger, it’d surely get his parents in and concentrating.

“Half ghost cores are slightly different. They work all the same, being the centre and main part and all that. But, they also filter ectoplasm to stop it seeping into the human half and potentially poisoning that form.” He gestured to his chest this time, and his father seemed to follow his actions, although his navy eyes were musty with confusion.

“And, what problem does this have?”

“You see, when you separated me and Phantom with the Mutilator, somehow my core got ripped away with it. And I have leftover ectoplasm in my system, with no core to filter it out of my human form.”

His dad was strangely silent. There was a clatter as the Mutilator fell to the floor, the damned pitchfork that started this staring mockingly back up at Danny.

“And with no core, the ectoplasm will just-“

_Slam!_

Suddenly, the door flung shut, such force making the curtains and strands of paper waver in hesitance. That.. did not go well. Stood in his room, Danny continually stared at the door, wondering if his father would return. Probably not.

And then, _pain_. Out of nowhere, an agonising twinge scorched in his chest, making Danny buckle over into the floor. It was bubbling, eating away inside.

_The ectoplasm!_ His eyes went wide with worry. Someone.. someone needs to know. He needed help!

His parents wouldn’t, and nor did he willingly want them to. Sam was away abroad somewhere, and Tucker at a family gathering for the weekend. Limply, Danny reached a numb hand into his pocket, pulling out his cellphone and sliding the open screen infront of him.

His vision blurred and he stifled a groan with another bolt of pain. There was only one other... one other that knew. She’d probably come back and give him a lecture when this was all over, but now he needed help.

Help.

Panting, the teen stamped the numbers into the phone, each number feeling worse and worse with dread. He was now clenched into the plush carpet, curling in on himself as ectoplasm did, _whatever_ to his body. Without a core.. it was deadly.

Would it ever go away?

Would it be the same?

Hurt. Empty.

A single dial done echoed in the room.

He smiled, despite the pain.

She was there, behind the phone, there. Safe. He’d be safe.

Eyes fluttered, and he fell unconscious, darkness surrounding his vision.

There, a still figure lay, cellphone strewn aside,frantic voice behind the speaker.

“ _Danny? Danny?! Why are you calling? Is something wrong? Danny?!_ ”  
  


* * *

_**  
It will be fine.** _

_**You know you will be safe.** _

_**Your core is gone, and the ectoplasm is taking over.** _

_**But you trust her.** _

_**And you are reassured.** _

_**That she can help mend your porcelain soul.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, now the consequences of the Fenton Phantom split are beginning to pop up! 
> 
> I decided to make it that Danny is still affected by ectoplasm being toxic, because he is part human as well as ghost. But his core sorta makes him immune to the toxicity of ectoplasm and helps keep them levels stable so the ectoplasm doesn’t accidentally run into his human form and poison him. But without a core.. well it’s pretty self explanatory.
> 
> Also Danny’s made a bid for help, so maybe things are looking up..? We’ll see.


	3. It Wasn’t Enough To Keep Me

A gentle hum filtered the atmosphere of the grocery store, as one cinnamon-haired Jazz Fenton gazed upon the vast shelves of fudge, face contorted in puckered confusion. There was just too much choice to know exactly what her dad would want. Basket slung on her arm, she walked away, not doubting for one second her father would be disappointed at the lack of fudge.

Maybe it was for the better, Jack did seem to have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with fudge. Heading towards the self checkout, the teenager swiped her cellphone out of her pocket, checking the time on the cellophane screen. 5:30pm.

It was a murky Wednesday afternoon, the sky flowered with clumpy and rotted clouds of cinereal gray, alas it had stayed dry and humid for the most part. A yell and shout sounded from the distance, and the sixteen year old turned her head, watch a ghostly green figure arise from above the skyline. Weird. Her brother would normally have sorted it out before it got that bad.

Placing her phone on the metal counter, she began swiping each product across the scanner, checking their barcodes and bagging them up. That was until the till bleeped a notification warning. Uh, great.

She took a step back, allowing the staff member to sort out her problem, a cluster of embarrassment sitting her cheeks. Faintly, Jazz wondered where her brother was. She knew he’d missed last period to fight Technus - she saw him rushing down the corridor at the technology ghost. But hadn’t seen him since. Mostly likely Danny had just gone straight home.

All of a sudden, her phone sparked to life, the buzzing splitting empty air.

_ring ring_

_ring_

Cupping the phone in her hand, Jazz examined the small screen, inscribed with the single name of Danny.

Her heart plummeted. Something was wrong. Shadows flashed on the floor from the ghost halfway across town, and it became painstakingly obvious Danny was not there. He wouldn’t ever call her in the middle of a ghost fight! And with how quick Phantom dealt with the ghosts, it should’ve been gone by now.

“There you go.” The shop assistant smiled, before tapping a few more buttons on the till and moving away from it. Her eyes averted to Jazz’s phone and then the ghost looming outside. “I wonder why Phantom hasn’t shown up yet - he’s normally right on the scene! Good luck with your phone call.”

Her fingers trembled as Jazz pressed the accept button, and swept up her bags, dashing outside to find somewhere more private to talk. The call immediately went through, and the teen expected Danny’s voice to echo through. 

_Nothing_.

Brittle noise meshed like thorns, there was nothing, no one. And then, a noise.

A single, harrowing, scorching wheeze responded in the crackling silence.

“- _Jazz_.”

Instant worry fired through her body at her brothers voice. _What happened? Where was he?!_

Staying calm was of no use to her now. Fingers clenched around her phone, she felt her eyes turn watery as he brothers sharp inhalations sounded in the speaker.

Jazz turned, plastic rustling as the bags fell to the pavement, shopping tossed into the dirt.

She didn’t even know she was running until her chest tightened at the lack of oxygen, constraining her every second more. Tears blurred her vision. But- but it was there.

Within her eyesight, fell the familiar tall metal blob of FentonWorks, the local eyesore people called it- she knew that but that didn’t matter- Danny was in danger- he was in trouble-

-What if she couldn’t get there? What- what would happen? would he be dead? No. No! Don’t let him be dead-

“ _DANNY_!”

Jazz screeched, feet pounding heavily on the pavement, an ear splitting cry of anguish that made the whole street turn and watch in havoc. Her feet pounded the pavement, and the teenager hadn’t even realised she’d reached the door until she’d bolted against it, scrabbling for the latch which clasped and fragmented, falling to the floor in a golden remnant.

“Where are you?!” Jazz called, her voice echoing in the empty kitchen. The kitchen seemed disarrayed, a few chairs pulled back jauntily. And a slick, dazzling pile of shining ectoplasm that taunted her with it’s preening guise.

Bile slicked her throat as she pressed to keep it down. Ectoplasm. It was Danny’s, she could tell. The small red flecks that dotted like strawberry seeds was enough to confirm this. Only Danny’s blood was like that— unless it was Vlad’s, but really, Jazz doubted that. 

Would he have been in ghost form, since the liquid was mostly green? Or human form? 

It was, everywhere.

At first, it had just been the swallowing puddle of gelled green, but as her eye saw it, she saw more. The ectoplasm dispersed on the floor, where it scattered out in gouged blobs, smeared and stained and slashed, a handprint of it clenched on the end of the table, scars of it veined on the walls, and a trail of watery insipid green followed clumsily right under-

Oh no.

The lab door.

* * *

  
  


Footsteps flurried in a flash as Jazz pounded down the stairs, her breath heavy with dread. She didn’t know what to expect, her parents, when it came to ghosts, had no restraint. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. Ectoplasm splayed everywhere.

Calmly, she braced herself, pausing on the stairwell. Her hand on her heart, the sixteen year old paced down the stairs, met by the sight of Danny in a containment unit, her mom pacing with a notepad.

“Oh thank heavens.” A heaving sigh came through her mouth, which grabbed both mother and brother’s attention. Danny seemed relatively unharmed, only a few shallow wounds on his chest.

So how was there so much ectoplasm in the kitchen..? The only place it would be from was Danny.

“Jazz! What are you doing here? You know you shouldn’t be down here, especially when there’s the ‘Do Not Enter’ sign on the door.” Maddie briefly asked, pulling her goggles over her head.

“What are you doing?!” The teenager almost shrieked back, pointing to Danny in the unit, who looked strangely, empty. “Phantom is a good ghost! Me and Danny have told you a million times.”

At the mention of Danny, Maddie’s face flinched lightly, before turning to face Phantom, who gave her a cold stare back.

“He’s not. Jazz, if you knew what he’d done, _had_ been doing for a long time, you’d think the same.”

What?! What was her mother talking about? None of this made sense! Danny’s strange behaviour was alarming enough, she’d never seen him give anyone a glare that cold and bitter. And she didn’t even know what Maddie was talking about. She knew her mom already thought Phantom was evil, but what had Danny done, for a prolonged period, that seemed so awful?

“What has he done, then? None of this makes sense, I can’t understand what’s going on.” Jazz seethed in frustration, walking to the side of the containment unit. 

She liked to know what was going on, liked to analyse a situation and people’s attitude.. this? 

She couldn’t understand anything.

Maddie opened her mouth, as if to speak, before the lab door rattled open and her dad trundled down the stairs, eyes shining with worry.

“Jack, what’s wrong?” The hunteress questioned her husband, alarmed at how out of character he was acting. Normally he’d be enthusiastic and peppy, but considering the whole situation, she couldn’t really blame him.

The man however, remained strangely silent, his eyes only focused on Phantom, who looked back, spooked.

“Is it Phantom? Don’t worry, we’ve got him contained. It’s safe. Danny’s safe.” Maybe Danny’s safety was worrying him, especially since he’d been overshadowed for so long. Which was why she’d ushered Jazz out the house, but her daughter hadn’t moved.

_Danny’s safe? But, but— Phantom’s in a containment unit! They can’t be seperate!_

Jazz stood, frozen at her parents and Danny. What were they talking about? Danny being safe, which he clearly wasn’t, locked in the containment chamber. Maybe they thought Danny was at Sam or Tucker’s, so he was safe? 

But that didn’t make sense. Her mom had talked about Phantom and Danny in the same sentence. As if Phantom had done something terrible to Danny-

“You think he’s possessed Danny, don’t you?!”

At that, her brother’s eyes went wide, as Jack and Maddie gave each other knowing stares.

“Sweetie, we didn’t want you to know— but yes — Phantom has been overshadowing your brother.” Jack beside her gave a heaving breath, knitting his hands together. Maddie wasn’t expecting that reaction from her husband.

“We used the Fenton Mutilator to seperate them. That’s why there’s ectoplasm in the kitchen.” Jack responded dully, his eyes grey with regret. 

No. No. They didn’t. They wouldn’t.

Bile rose in Jazz’s throat and her eyes widened, glancing at Phantom, who grappled at the wounds on his chest. Now she realised, her parents had done that. She didn’t even know what the Mutilator was.

But if the amount of ectoplasm and the name of the invention was anything to go by, this wasn’t just a normal Fenton Ghost Catcher incident.

Oh God. They had done this- to her baby brother- who- who she was meant to protect. And now she didn’t even know what to do! She’d failed him.

Tears leaked out her eyes as she glanced up at Danny, walking briskly to the containment unit, by the control panel. Danny needed to get out of there, now. 

She’d deal with the rest.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here in time.” She whispered to the fourteen year old, and across the room, Maddie gasped, hearing her words.

“Jasmine Juliet Fenton! Don’t you dare do what I think you’re about to do! Your brother is safe. This was not your fault. None of us could’ve known.”

Her words remained dismissed, and Jazz reached for the red button, pressing it quickly, as her brother looked bewildered behind the glass. His green eyes pierced hers, frightened and wild.

Maddie’s shadow looked behind her as the unit opened with an alarm, and Danny instantly flew out, hovering near the ceiling.

“Danny, go! I’ll see you later tonight, we’ll figure this out, I promise.”

Instead of a nod and a remark about staying at Tucker’s, a cold glare froze upon his features.

“You think I want to stay here, after what they did?” Phantom sneered, looking viciously towards Jack and Maddie, “They’re no parents of mine.”

“Of course we’re not your parents. You’re a ghost!”

Quickly, Phantom went intangible, flying through the ceiling as Jazz watched, gobsmacked. This was worse than she thought. But if that was Phantom, where was the other half of her brother?

He wasn’t- wasn't- dead, was he?

Her called her, but there'd only been shaky breaths in the receiver, then nothing. Empty.

_Where was her brother's other half?!_

“What have you done?” Jazz turned to her parents. “You split him in half! Where is the other Danny? You know, your son. Who you’ve done— I don’t even know— but if he’s just disowned you, something bad has happened here!”

“Danny was overshadowed by Phantom— we had to recreate the merge to separate them, the only way this was possible was to remake the portal accident to defuse the two. Now that you’ve let Phantom go, he has the possibility to remerge again!”

“And that’s a good thing! Danny is dead without his ghost half.”

Jack let out a strange cry at that, and both Maddie and Jazz faced him.

“That’s what Danno said. He said that there’s ectoplasm in his body from the accident, and the ghost core filters that out to stop it from poisoning his human half. But the Mutilator ripped his core out. And now—“

“Now the ectoplasm can’t filter out.” Jazz faded off, glancing at her father with horrified eyes, who gave a nod in response.

“I- I think we were wrong Maddie. Phantom didn’t possess Danny. I don’t know how they’re connected.. but Phantom never meant any harm, I don’t think. They rely on each other.”

“Without Phantom, Fenton can’t filter ectoplasm out of his system. Without Fenton, Phantom will destabilise because he’s not a full ghost.” Jazz remarked, rubbing her head in frustration. “Danny’s half ghost. Him and Phantom are the same. Always have been.”

“Oh Jack, what have we done?” Maddie whispered, clutching at a wrap of bandages on the workbench. “We, we split him in half. And now Phantom won’t ever return to us, and Danny is upstairs— Danny!”

“He was talking and conscious the last time I saw him.” Jack confirmed, eyes narrowed.

“He phoned me, but he didn’t speak. It was just his breathing. I think something is wrong.” 

“It’s the ectoplasm in his system.” Maddie said grimly. “It’ll be taking effect. We need to get the Fenton Filtrator. Filters ectoplasm out of a possessed human.”

“He’s not possessed!” Jazz urged her mother, anger in her tone.

“I know! But it’s the quickest thing that’ll get ectoplasm out of his system, then to find Phantom, merge the two back together, and return that ectoplasm into him.”

“This is all a mess.” Jazz sighed, watching both her parents as they rummaged around the lab frantically for inventions and the Filtrator. 

Hopefully they wouldn’t be too late.

* * *

Heavy breathing filled the room, stuttering and gasping for air as Danny dragged himself up onto his bed, recently awoken from unconsciousness. 

His chest burns. Fiery pain are away at his chest, scorching and smouldering like poison. It is poison.

The ectoplasm, slowly but torturously burning through his system. It won’t be long.

What felt like an eternity, Danny clambered onto his bed, grasping the sheets and covers, pressing his face to the cool duvet, a smidge of relief pacifiying the burning agony in his chest. Not for long. 

Faintly, he could hear the murmurs of a button being pressed, and horrified voices. They seemed familiar, but his head was too blurred and mashed to think right now. Abandoned, his phone lay across the carpet, gawping at him aimlessly. A small thought of how much of a mess he must look sprouted in his head.

_Jazz_. It felt like an eternity ago he called his sister, then collapsed? He can’t be sure. Everything was black like a sooty night, then he’d began to gain some sort of memory.

“P-phantom. Downstairs-rs. Danger.” Danny spittled and retched over his bed, trying to hold back a stressed cry as he cradled his head in his hands. Another wrenching cough, and he felt something weird and sour snag in his throat.

Another cough. His hands were green.

Outside a furious shout pierced the air, and Danny perked up, despite the panic and the green sludge surrounding his hands - which was not healthy - the sky was desolate. So what was it?

Then he spotted it. A small black and white speck in the distance, someone who he was familiar with, but it was weird looking at-

Because it was weird to look at yourself fly away.

Phantom, a bitter look scrawled on his face, nothing but a scratch in the cloudless sky.

_Phantom’s gone._

_"-_ no, please. Y-you have to come back! Please! Phantom! Danny!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally this is up, took a while to even have motivation. The chapter title comes from a lyric in the song Wishing Well by the Oh Hellos. Why not.

**Author's Note:**

> Second part to the Porcelain Pieces series! This is a multi chapter fic, unlike the first one that was just a one-shot. 
> 
> Ack, not gonna lie it hurts me to write this sometimes, I don’t like making characters suffer but at the same time it makes a good fanfic.


End file.
